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“You’ll come to understand that there is nothing you can’t tell your other half. Your souls connect at the deepest level, and the love between you is unconditional. Nothing bad will ever come from honesty between the two of you.”
When she finished speaking, Aria stood. “Although there’s nothing as exciting as the two of you to look forward to for the rest of the evening I do have more readings scheduled so I must bid you adieu.”
After we said our goodbyes and left the tent, I felt as if a weight had been lifted from my entire being. Eight years had passed since the night Aria told me that Chloe and I were connected, so I’d had plenty of time to wrap my head around it. So while I was relieved that everything was finally out in the open, I could see that Chloe was overwhelmed. She needed to be put at ease and I instinctively knew how to do that. Reaching out, I took her hand in mine as we walked. The instant we were connected I felt some of her tension— and mine—ease.
She made a sound of frustration as she stared at our hands. “How did I not notice this before?”
I shrugged. “It’s like Aria said— sometimes we ignore things that are right in front of us because we aren’t ready to deal with it.”
Chloe stopped walking and gestured with her head toward something in the distance. Following the gesture, I saw Alec and Caroline were about seventy feet away at the bushel basket toss booth. Chloe needed some time to come to terms with all that she’d heard in Aria’s tent and the carnival was the perfect distraction.
“Let’s go let off some steam with our friends,” I suggested. “Afterward, we can go back to my place and talk—or we can wait and do that tomorrow, or whenever you feel ready to do it. There’s no rush, Chlo. We have time.”
She bit her lip and looked at me tentatively. “You’re okay with that?”
I looked her square in the eye so she’d know I was telling the truth. “I’m fine with it. Let’s have some fun.”
Of course, our friends immediately noted the fact that Chloe and I were holding hands. I could tell by the expression on Alec’s face that he was going to have some fun at our expense.
“You two lovebirds are quite a sight. Does this mean you might finally forgive me for the seven minutes in heaven incident?” he asked Chloe.
I reflexively covered my junk with my free hand as the memory of the night in question played out in my mind. It had gone down at Heather Miller’s thirteenth birthday party—which had taken place just six weeks before Madam Aria told me Chloe was my soulmate.
When the game started, I’d conspired with Alec to make sure that Chloe didn’t kiss anyone but me. The plan worked, and Chloe and me shared our first kiss in a closet in Heather’s basement. I still remembered the silky soft feel of her warm lips under mine, and the sweetness of her taste on my tongue. It was the best first kiss in history— right up until the moment the door opened and she realized she’d been kissing me. Unfortunately, her immediate reaction was to knee me in the balls. Even though I’d dropped to the floor and held back tears of pain, it had been worth it to me to ensure that our first kiss was shared with one another.
Three years passed before we kissed again. That time she’d known exactly who she’d been about to kiss. We’d hooked up at a party and had spent two hours making out in the dugout at the little league. I’d thought we’d turned a corner but the next day when I called her, she told me it only happened because she was drunk on wine coolers. Two wine coolers, to be exact. That hadn’t been enough for her to be drunk and I’d known it, but there was no arguing with her. Those kisses held me over for years, while my desire for her had grown exponentially during that time.
I can say without any hesitation that I’d been hers long before either of our kisses. Had, in fact, been hers since that first day in our preschool class. She’d been wearing a bright yellow dress with little daisies around the hem and her chestnut colored hair had been in two uneven pigtails. I remember watching from across the room as my mom fixed the pigtails so they hung just so. The smile that spread across Chloe’s face as she beamed up at my mom in thanks made my heart beat funny against my chest. I’d been a goner from that moment on, even though our first fight happened approximately twenty-eight minutes later when I put a small handful of sand on the back of her dress. Instead of laughing the way Alec did whenever I dumped sand on him, she’d turned around and punched me in the stomach.
